2007-10-18

“Suffering is suffering” — for both human and nonhuman animals

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

by Neil Godfrey

PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) makes up for its sometimes offensive tactics by it’s huge financial support from the Hollywood rich. There’s an interesting and largely persuasive (to me who is already persuaded) interview with PETA vice president Dan Mathews now available online.

But I was converted to the cause by Peter Singer. Apparently as was Richard Dawkins. Links are to online articles of an interview with Singer and a review of Singer by Dawkins.

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It is worth saying another word of appreciation here for Neil Godfrey's effort to make Bruno Bauer accessible in English.

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— Gregory Doudna, – January 2019
https://earlywritings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=145080#p145080
Neil made a good synthesis of the work without being an “expert” of the field.

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This is superb work, Neil, and reminds me of Albert Schweitzer’s work from a century ago. . . . .

I commend you for being the first to even TRY to translate Bruno Bauer’s brilliant Kritik der Evangelien und Geschichte ihres Ursprungs, which is now more than 150 years old.

. . . . .Thank you for your historic effort.

-- Paul Trejo, M.A., - November 2022
Editor, An English Edition of Bruno Bauer’s 1843 Christianity Exposed
"Neil Godfrey and Tim Widowfield, who both write at Vridar . . . happen to be some of the most astute and well-read amateurs you can read on the internet on the subject of biblical historicity. I call them amateurs only for the reason that they don’t have, so far as I know, advanced degrees in the subject. But I have often been impressed with their grasp of logic and analysis of scholarship. I don’t always agree with them, but I respect their work."

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— Russell Gmirkin, – October 2016
"Neil, in my mature judgement (I am now an old man), this fine 4-part study is a brilliant reworking, an instructive restatement of Hayden White’s Metahistory (and his subsequent writings). Your critique of certain historiographic representations as imbedded in the case study of the “scientistic”, “empirical” Richard Carrier provides a solid starting point for the more honest “fictive” reading of the New Testament that you encourage. Your last paragraph is a very intelligent call to sensitive readers of these texts. I suspect a whole generation of biblical students has been educated without the insights provided by the incomparable White. Bravo!"

-- Timothy Bagley, - November 2024
"Very good. This post is going straight to the March 2016 Biblical Studies Carnival."

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Congratulations, Vridar, . . . I declare, Vridar, your own hard work translating Bruno Bauer will make a major difference in future studies of Bruno Bauer and the evolution of Hegel’s philosophy of religion.

-- Paul Trejo, - April 2023
"Neil, You’ve done a clean job in your posting on ‘Jesus the Healer’. It reflects well on you. Best, John"

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"Note that I do not use the term ‘amateur’ pejoratively. . . . In fact, Godfrey is extremely well read and his librarian skills have brought many important academic works to my attention."

Raphael Lataster - August 2019

Neil Godfrey on Interlude: Why I Doubt the Historical Existence of Jesus: “Can you claim to have subjected the historical integrity of the writings of Justin and Irenaeus to the same historical…” Feb 5, 06:17
Neil Godfrey on Paul’s Letters as Products of Marcion’s School: “Why? Which scholars, in particular? The ones who peer reviewed her work? The ones with whom she has engaged in…” Feb 5, 06:06
Darren on Paul’s Letters as Products of Marcion’s School: “re: “But biblical studies are not a monolith and any book published by Cambridge University Press, and by a scholar…” Feb 5, 02:56
LC on Interlude: Why I Doubt the Historical Existence of Jesus: “Can you claim to have subjected the historical integrity of the writings of Justin and Irenaeus to the same historical…” Feb 5, 00:51
Neil Godfrey on Paul’s Letters as Products of Marcion’s School: “I said “forget … the atheists” — of course I am an atheist, but what I meant was “forget atheists…” Feb 4, 21:32
Neil Godfrey on The Name of the Apostle Paul: “What arguments would refute the likelihood that in Acts we see the creation of the Paul figure?” Feb 4, 20:53
RParvus on The Name of the Apostle Paul: “Acts, in my opinion, is a proto-orthodox work. And if so, its reason for connecting Paul’s name to Sergius Paulus…” Feb 4, 20:21
roger sacco on The Magic Beyond Our Expectations: “Read “Incognito” by David Eagleman .Ties right in.Thanks Neil!” Feb 4, 11:34
Neil Godfrey on Paul’s Letters as Products of Marcion’s School: “If you really want to read the book without serious cost you can always request an interlibrary loan through your…” Feb 4, 10:00

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